After the End
by Nascense
Summary: Nothing can be done the same way twice.


_A/N: Ahhh. I can't get satisfied with this one. Oh well._

* * *

When Uchiha Sasuke came back to Konoha, Team 7 was six years older and more broken than his conscious was. Sakura, with a heart stained by grief and strength and destroyed dreams and a hope so far, far away; and Naruto, a hero with ambitions and morals and hurt and oblivion hovering in the corners of his smile just waiting and waiting for something to go wrong. They were smiling at him, but he knew that they weren't happy.

But he couldn't apologize, because the words eluded him, and he didn't know _why, why the guilt was eating him alive._

Naruto welcomed him back with open arms and a too-careful smile. Sasuke may have been his best friend, but he'd always be an enemy. That sin can't be wiped away. Sakura gave him a false friendship, the kind that says in quiet voice that I've been betrayed and that you can't do anything anything anything to make it right. It was so painfully obvious that the two had been decaying from the inside for years and years.

And Sasuke regretted, because Sakura had been right. Revenge will bring _no one _happiness.

So, they had started again, tried to be friends again, tried to pretend that nothing ever happened. But there were walls between Sasuke and Naruto and Sakura that hadn't been there before he had left, because Naruto and Sakura had wasted years of their lives on him, to a cause they knew was futile but had to try, because Sasuke was part of the team and a comrade. And a shinobi never leads a comrade behind. If nothing else, they were shinobi.

And though he wished things could have been different, he never would have left his revenge behind. Sasuke could never love Sakura the way he was, and it didn't take Sasuke long to realize that he would never change.

Not even for her.

* * *

Sakura would sometimes stare at all of their hands. Sakura, the little girl who suffered more in their absence then ever would be let on, who cried when Sasuke left and sobbed when Naruto had left too; she stared at their hands and could tell exactly who they were. Sakura with hands to save lives and Naruto with hands meant to pull people up and Sasuke with hands meant to grip weapons, all lived in different worlds.

When Sasuke left, he was thinking of himself, and when Naruto left, he was thinking of Sasuke, so where _where _did Sakura fit into the equation? They had left her because something was so much more important than her to them—Sasuke's revenge and Naruto's best friend—and almost cried when she realized that she didn't. Fit. In.

It was then that the puzzle pieces started to fit, and Sakura felt more alone than ever.

But they were on the road to recovery so she smiled and prayed that some god up there that would kill her _nownownownow _so no one would ever have to pity her. But she didn't die. She guessed God was on a bathroom break.

"The Uchiha linage must continue." Months later, he was at her doorstep, offering a choice that wasn't quite hers and she knew that this was her responsibility all along… to always love this man with dark eyes and an even darker heart and sacrifice her own in the process.

So she nodded, and knew without a doubt that this was the end of her life.

And when she kissed him, it was full of a silent forgiveness she didn't feel and he never asked for, but she understood that he never would be able to. She also knew that was why, with all of her heart, she could never truly love this man again.

* * *

Naruto was the only one who knew that Sakura didn't love Sasuke when she accepted his marriage proposal. While all the young girls tittered about how lucky she was and what an honor it would be to be the mother of his children, he was the only one who saw her sobbing in her heart of hearts.

But she didn't turn to him. And it hurt, because where was his Sakura-chan from years and years ago who trusted him with anything and always forgave him? Naruto wasn't stupid though. He knew that when he left, it was probably one of his greatest mistakes.

He still loved her after all of the years that had built a gap between them so large that he could never jump across. Neither could Sasuke. And so Sakura, though she could see them, was once again, all alone.

That didn't stop Naruto from moving forward, towards his future as Hokage and away from her. He knew he was repeating the mistake, and he cared, but he didn't stop.

Team 7 was a cycle that could never stop. And all it spun around was _hurt hurt hurt._

* * *

In a swirl of pink flowers, Sakura appeared in the Hokage's office with a grim frown on her face and with eyes dulled with years of repressed emotion. "Yes, Shishou?"

Tsunade looked at her pupil with the same foreboding expression as Sakura did. "Anbu is in need of you."

Sakura paused. "I quit Anbu three months ago."

"I know."

The pink-haired medic sighed deeply and rubbed a weary hand over her eyes. "What is the mission?"

"It's an assassination. Details on this," Tsunade intoned while holding out a lightweight scroll.

Sakura bowed, grabbed the scroll, and left the office. The Hokage sighed when her student left, slumping in her chair. "I'm so sorry, Sakura."

Sakura was sorry, too. Sorry that she had ever become a kunoichi, sorry that she had chosen to become a medic, sorry that she was sorry that she was ever born.

* * *

She hooked on her gear with no expression. This was just her job. She knew she couldn't escape the responsibilities.

And she also knew, most likely, she'd never come back.

The medic turned to look at he fiancée, sighing. What irony. He left her, and now she… She wouldn't even think about it.

"I'll be back in a couple of months," she said to Sasuke.

"Be careful. Our wedding is going to be soon."

She nodded. She would be careful, she was _always _careful.

But this was a suicide mission.

There was nothing careful to be done about it.

* * *

A year and a half later, two men were standing at the foot of the memorial stone at the dead of night. Their heads were bowed, looking at a name near the very bottom; fresh, sharp letters cut into the granite, new and not softened with the weather.

"It's been six months since you were presumed dead," Sasuke said monotonously.

Naruto shuffled his feet a little. "The village misses you." He laughed dryly, sadly. "You've become something of a legend here, with your pink hair and monstrous strength."

But the cold memorial stone couldn't talk back to them. All they had left were memories of her playing like a movie across their minds. And it wouldn't stop.

Sasuke spoke up, "We know better than to think you're dead. You wouldn't die because of that mission, even if it was classified as a suicide assassination."

The blond Kyuubi container moved forward and put his palm on the cool granite. "So wherever you are, Sakura-chan," he said lowly, "I hope you're happy there."

* * *

Sakura was dry-heaving at the stench of death around the clearing. This was disgusting. She caused it. _She _was disgusting.

She knew she could never go back now. Not to Konoha. She couldn't bear to take responsibility for this, and she couldn't stand that place anymore. Not while the memories were there, weighing them down with imaginary shackles. And she wasn't going to pay for her teammate's mistakes.

'_Look, I can't even call them my friends anymore,' _she thought cynically.

For the first time in her life, Sakura was turning her back on everything she knew was right. For the first time since she was twelve, Sakura was running away.

For Team 7, there were no such things as happy endings. A line had been drawn in the dirt; and they were on one side, knowing they couldn't cross. No matter how many times they tried to fool themselves.

So Naruto moved on, aiming for Hokage.

So Sasuke moved on, trying to rebuild the dead.

And so Sakura moved on, looking for a new future.

And so Team 7 became a thing of the past.

_A new day begins._

* * *

_A/N: Heh. After the end, a new day begins. What a wonderful feeling to know there's a better world..._


End file.
